School of Psychology, Law and Social Work, Örebro University, Sweden.
Department of Psychology, Florida State University, United States.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2021 Oct;220:103427. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103427. Epub 2021 Oct 12.
The startle reflex has been suggested to operate as a psychophysiological marker of psychopathic personality, based on findings from studies using a range of different methodologies and participant samples. The present review aims at synthesizing existing evidence of the relationship between psychopathy and the startle reflex across task paradigms, psychopathic personality subtypes and subdimensions, participant samples (i.e., incarcerated/ clinical or non-offenders), and age groups using the triarchic model of psychopathy as a frame of reference. Systematic literature searches were conducted up until the 24th of March 2020 in PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Science. A total of 2311 potential studies were identified, out of which 40 met relevancy and quality criteria. Results indicate that reduced aversive startle potentiation is associated with psychopathic personality in general, but clusters of traits relating to the triarchic model constructs of boldness and meanness in particular. Available evidence suggest that startle paradigms could be meaningful for differentiating individuals with and without psychopathic personality. Findings support suggestions of psychopathic personality as a multifaceted, rather than a unitary construct. Reduced aversive startle potentiation has also been found in relation to psychopathic features in child-aged samples but work of this kind is limited and more research is needed. Future studies should focus on greater consistency in task paradigms and analytic strategies to enhance the capacity to compare and integrate findings across studies.
基于使用各种不同方法和参与者样本的研究结果，惊跳反射被认为是精神变态人格的一种心理生理标志物。本综述旨在综合现有证据，说明在任务范式、精神变态人格亚型和亚维度、参与者样本（即监禁/临床或非犯罪者）以及使用三因素模型的年龄组之间，惊跳反射与精神变态之间的关系。使用精神变态的三因素模型作为参考框架。系统文献检索在 2020 年 3 月 24 日之前在 PubMed、PsycINFO 和 Web of Science 上进行。共确定了 2311 项潜在研究，其中 40 项符合相关性和质量标准。结果表明，厌恶刺激的惊跳增强减弱与一般的精神变态人格有关，但与三因素模型的大胆和卑鄙结构相关的特质集群尤其相关。现有证据表明，惊跳范式可用于区分有无精神变态人格的个体。研究结果支持精神变态人格是一个多方面的，而不是单一的结构的观点。在儿童年龄样本中也发现了与精神变态特征相关的厌恶刺激惊跳增强减弱，但此类工作有限，需要更多的研究。未来的研究应侧重于任务范式和分析策略的更大一致性，以提高跨研究比较和整合研究结果的能力。
